CAST

THE CAST

Meet our cast for 'Till The Boys Come Home! Negotiations are continuing with various actors and this list will be updated as more cast are confirmed.

NADINE GARNER

Nadine Garner’s first major role was in 1985 at the age of 15 as “Tamara” in The Henderson Kids, a role for which she won several awards.

She then went onto play “Arlene Toomer” in the BBC comedy series Boys From The Bush for two series, before taking on a series of minor and guest roles in multiple Australian and British television series, including Prisoner, My Brother Tom, Neighbours, The Bill, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Shadows of the Heart, G. P., Twisted Tales, Good Guys Bad Guys, Raw FM, Tribe, Class Act, Water Rats, The Love of Lionel’s Life, Changi, Heroes’ Mountain, Young Lions, The Secret Life of Us, Stingers and Through My Eyes. Her next lead role was as “Detective Senior Constable Jennifer Mapplethorpe” in the police drama series City Homicide, which debuted in 2007.

Nadine made her film debut in The Still Point (1986) and appeared in Bushfire Moon(1987), Mull (1988) (for which she won “Best Actress” in the 1988 Australian Film Institute Awards), Metal Skin (1994), Fresh Air (1999), The Book of Revelation (2006), and Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance (2007).

In 2002-03, Nadine played in a national tour of the musical Cabaret and received enthusiastic reviews—as well as two theatre awards—for her performance as “Fraulein Kost/Fritzi”.

Nadine is one of Incognita Enterprises' alumni, playing "Viola" in our award-winning digital series Shakespeare Republic and "Emilia" in our most recent short film Speaking Daggers (both of which are currently touring the international film festival circuit).

Nadine has won two Television Society of Australia Penguin Awards, a TV Week Logie, Australian Film Institute Award, Film Critics Circle of Australia Award, A Melbourne Green Room Award and a Helpmann Award for her roles on stage and screen.

She can currently be seen on television screens playing “Jean Beazley” in the Australian hit drama The Doctor Blake Mysteries opposite Craig McLachlan.

MICHALA BANAS

Michala’s acting career started very early with her first film credit at the age of 5 in her native New Zealand. her first award nomination was a NZ Film & TV Award for: Best Juvenile Performance for her role in Mirror Mirror at only 16 years of age.. Since then, she has forged a remarkable film and television career spanning over three decades.

After moving to Australia in 1988, Michala worked on several productions before her breakout role in Always Greener (Channel 7) for which she was nominated for most popular female talent for the 2002 Logies. from there she has worked consistently, starring in ongoing roles in McLeods Daughters (Channel 9), Winners and Losers (Channel 7) and the remarkable telemovie Beaconsfield (Channel 9).

Her portrayal of two naughty puppets in her stage debut in Avenue Q in 2009, earned Michala a Helpmann Award for best lead female in a musical in 2010.

Most recently, Michala has played the kooky “Phoebe” in the multiple award winning Matchbox Pictures’ series Nowhere Boys (ABC), and the feisty “Amber Wheeler” in the hit ABC comedy series Upper Middle Bogan to much acclaim – the show’s cast took out the 2014 Equity Award for Most Outstanding Ensemble In A Comedy Series, and was nominated again for Series 2 in 2015.

Michala is another Incognita Enterprises alumni, appearing in both seasons of our award-winning digital series Shakespeare Republic - as "Phebe" in Season One, which earned her a Best Actress Comedy nomination at Dublin WebFest and as "Hamlet" in Season Two. She also played the role of "Isabella" in our most recent short film Speaking Daggers, currently on the international film festival circuit.

Along with several stints in radio, Michala has worked regularly as a presenter and guest on shows such as The Circle (Channel 10), Dirty Laundry Live (ABC) and Have you Been Paying Attention? (Channel 10).

To add another feather to her bow, Michala has also become co-founder and current co-Artistic Director of The Kin Collective, a hugely successful independent theatre company based in Melbourne. She recently starred alongside Noni Hazlehurst in the company’s production of the tragic Irish play, The Beauty Queen Of Leenane“, for which the cast received a Greenroom Award nomination for Best Ensemble in 2015.

Michala’s most recent theatre forays were for the Melbourne Theatre Company’s (MTC) productions of Birdland, where she played five characters with four accents … one of them, a man and The Odd Couple. She was most recently seen on television screens reprising her lead role as "Amber Wheeler" in Series 3 of the hugely popular ABC TV comedy series Upper Middle Bogan.

DEAN HAGLUND

Canadian actor, writer, comedian and visual artist, Dean Haglund is probably best known for his ten seasons playing "Richard “Ringo” Langly", one of the “The Lone Gunmen” from the hit television series The X-Files, and The X-Files spin off, The Lone Gunmen, both for Fox Television.

A graduate of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, with a Bachelor of Arts in multidisciplinary studies (theatre, dance, visual arts and video production), Dean began his career in the theatre performing the classics, including Shakespeare, before going on to specialize in improvisational comedy, beginning with the Vancouver TheatreSports League. This has led to a lifelong love-affair with stand up comedy and impro work, which has seen him tour around the world performing critically acclaimed, predominately improvised comedy shows.

Dean has also appeared in a string of films and TV series including Bones, The Commish, Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years, Sliders, V.I.P., Tom Sawyer and Honey, I Shrunk The Kids: The TV Show, among others, most recently Executive Producing and starring in the documentary The Truth is Out There, as well as the feature film The Lady Killers (currently doing the international film festival circuit). Dean’s writing credits include the TV movie Never A Dull Moment and the Canadian sitcom Channel 92.

Dean is another of Incognita Enterprises' alumni, joining the team in 2017 for our award-winning Shakespeare Republic digital series, where he played the scheming and suave "Iago".

Dean was also on the advisory board, as well as performing, for the inaugural Sci-Fest, the annual Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival – a festival of new, professionally produced, visually compelling, 15-minute sci-fi plays performed live on stage by actors from iconic sci-fi television shows. He additionally ran the hugely popular and highly rated Broadway Walking Tours of downtown LA, where he got to share his love of architecture and history of the LA area in between his stand up and acting gigs.

Currently, Dean co-hosts the Chillpak Hollywood Hour podcast, where he discusses all things Hollywood with filmmaker Phil Leirness, as well as continuing with his writing, acting and visual arts careers. Dean's next television appearance will be in Season 11 of The X-Files, premiering on FOX Television in the USA in January 2018, where he will be reprising his iconic role as "Richard "Ringo" Langly" alongside David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as "Mulder" and "Scully".

Fun Fact: The son of a structural engineer, and the nephew of a Swedish scientist, Dean is also the inventor of the Chill Pak, a commercial external cooling product for laptop computers, which won him a Silver Medal at the International Inventors Expo in Geneva.

CHRISTOPHER KIRBY

Probably best known to international audiences as “Mauser” from The Matrix trilogy of films, Chris Kirby began his career in his native USA before moving to Australia in the late 1990’s and has a long list of varied Film and TV roles to his name, both here and in America.

US television roles include the series Quantum Leap, Space: Above and Beyond, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Lost World, BeastMaster, The Burning Zone, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and The Starter Wife, as well as the television special Blockheads for HBO. Australian credits include Marshall Law, Neighbours, Ocean Girl, Flipper and The Games.

Chris’ film credits include Queen of the Damned with Stuart Townsend, the comedy Crackerjack with Mick Molloy, Visitors, penned by the late, great Everett de Roche and directed by Richard Franklin, the Michael Caton and Paul Hogan comedy Strange Bedfellows, Macbeth, directed by Geoffrey Wright, Daybreakers with Ethan Hawke, George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the Chi Cao dramatic adaptation Mao’s Last Dancer, the sci-fi motion picture Predestination with Ethan Hawke, the cult classic Iron Sky and the iconic The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions with Keanu Reeves.

But Chris is no stranger to theatre either. He has played roles in such diverse professional stage productions as The Speechmaker for MTC opposite Nicholas Bell and Lachy Hulme, Twelfth Night for the Australian Shakespeare Company, the Green Room Award nominated This is How it Goes as well as Lobby Hero for Red Stitch Theatre, Transit for La Mama Theatre, The Sapphires for Company B, The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Craig McLachlan and the WW2 touring drama production Boundary Road.

Another Incognita Enterprises alumni (and also now a Producer with the team), Chris has previously appeared in our award-winning digital series, Shakespeare Republic as "Thomas More", which won him the Best Lead Actor Award at the 2017 Austin WebFest, as well as playing "Benedick" in our most recent short film Speaking Daggers.

Recent screen credits include feature films Arrowhead and We Were Tomorrow with Gyton Grantly and TV series Hunter, Camp and The Divorce. Chris's next screen appearance will be in Season 2 of the hit TV series Wolf Creek, alongside John Jarratt, Matt Day and Chris Haywood, directed by Greg McLean, which premieres on Stan. in Australia in December 2017.

ALAN FLETCHER

Alan Fletcher first appeared on Australian screens in The Young Doctors, before landing the role that would fully launch him into Australia’s lounge rooms – that of “Constable Frank Rossi” on Cop Shop. Various roles in film and television followed, including playing “Martin Blake” on The Love Boat opposite Morgan Fairchild, “Henry Landers” in Gross Misconduct opposite Jimmy Smits and “Frank Harkin” in Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771 opposite Scott Bakula.

Alan has also appeared in several TV and radio comedy shows, including writing and performing for ABC Radio’s Don’t Get Off Ya Bike!, as well as playing lead roles in various landmark TV dramas including the Vietnam Vet mini-series Sword of Honour and his AFI-nominated performance as ‘Michael Clayton’ in ABC’s Embassy.

He briefly appeared in Neighbours in 1987 as ‘Greg Cooper’, a dishonest boxer working in Jim Robinson’s garage, before successfully landing his current role in 1994 of ‘Dr Karl Kennedy’ in the soap, which has made him a household name in both Australia and the UK.

Alan began his career in the theatre, landing his first professional contract in his early twenties at Perth’s Hole in the Wall Theatre, before moving to the Perth Theatre Company at the National Theatre, Western Australia, where he worked opposite such great talents as Warren Mitchell, Honor Blackman, Tom Stoppard, William Henry Kerr and Tim Brooke-Taylor, working in every style of theatre from Pinter to Shakespeare, melodrama to musicals. This was followed with a New Zealand tour of Beyond A Jokeopposite Arthur Lowe, a year’s contract with Sydney’s Q Theatre and then three years at the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC). Despite his career becoming more and more focused on screen, this love of theatre never diminished and Alan has added to his CV the roles of ‘Henry Higgins’ in My Fair Lady at the Melbourne Comedy Theatre, Frank McGee in the workshop performance season of Call Girl the Musical and ‘Captain Hook’ in Peter Pan at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, among many other stage roles over the past decade.

Other notable theatrical roles include: ‘Tybalt’ in Romeo & Juliet and ‘Duke Senior’ and ‘Duke Fredrick’ in As You Like It for MTC and ‘Lucentio’ in The Taming Of The Shrew for Perth Playhouse. Alan is also a long-standing cast member of the award-winning web series, Shakespeare Republic, having been with the series since Season One.

Alan is additionally the lead singer of the band Waiting Room, with other members including Tommy Rando, Chris Hawker and drummer Jeff Consi, who have a regular gig in Melbourne and have undertaken several successful sell-out tours of the United Kingdom.

SARAH HALLAM

Acting from the age of 11, Sarah loves the industry & works in many facets. She has trained with renowned acting coaches Howard Fine, Kim Farrant, Ivana Chubbuck, Kim Krejus, & Andrew Prowse and has a slew of acting credits in film, TV and stage.

She has trained with Penny McDonald & Jean-Louis Rodrigue in Alexander Technique; Stephen Costan in Voice & David Coury in Singing for Actors. Sarah is currently teaching and on the faculty at The Howard Fine Acting Studio in Australia.

SALLY McLEAN

A graduate of The Actors Institute, London, further studies undertaken with Howard Fine and his faculty at the Howard Fine Studio, Australia, Sally McLean has played roles in over thirty UK and Australian professional theatre productions, including Flame Trees, Uncle Vanya, The Auxiliary, Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords), The Clairvoyant, P.S I Love You, the Australian Premier of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change and the World Premier of Annabel’s Requiem on the West End.

Sally has also played Shakespeare in both Australia and the UK, playing roles in Macbeth and Hamlet in the UK before performing for three seasons with the Australian Shakespeare Company in their critically acclaimed productions of Comedy of Errors andRomeo & Juliet.

Sally has additionally appeared in various lead and guest roles on numerous UK and Australian television series including Utopia, Lowdown, Elephant Princess, Flying Doctors, Totally Full Frontal, Blue Heelers, Tonight Live, Bingles, Comedy Inc. and the BBC mini-series Bootleg. Film credits include Raymond Taylor’s Earnest Adventures In Love, V for Vienetta, Evie Wants A Baby and Why Must The Show Go On? (playing Lady Macbeth), amongst others.

Her work behind the camera began with the BBC as a member of the Books & Special Projects Unit in BBC Music & Arts. Three years in production at the BBC led to her writing and producing her first film A Little Rain Must Fall in London in late 1996, thought to be the first TV-length drama to be shot on DV tape in the UK, and to her forming her production business Incognita Enterprises under the Honorary Patronage of Oscar® nominated actor, Sir Nigel Hawthorne – an association that continued until his passing in 2001.

Since then, Sally has worked in production for Channel Nine, Endemol Southern Star and others on programs including Big Brother, Australian Idol, The X-Factor and 1 VS 100, written and produced a number of short films and two theatrical productions (which she also directed), and is currently writer/director/producer for her first feature-length documentary, Champion (the story of Franz Stampfl), due for release in 2018.

BILLY SMEDLEY

A graduate of Ballarat Arts Academy (formally BAPA), Billy has played numerous roles in theatre, most notably Banquo and The Doctor in Macbeth, followed by Lysander and Lion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Oz Act and performing six seasons of new Australian writing with Fractured Femur theatre company in various lead roles.

His screen credits include playing the guest role of Lieutenant Colonel Roland Claremont in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries for ABC TV, the lead role of Sheriff Sealey in the short film Ransom’s Bribe, the lead role of Bounty Hunter in the vampire short film Spring Cleaning, the guest role of Martin in Salam Café: Chef Rumzee for SBS TV and the lead role of Hawksborn in the much-anticipated Terry Pratchett short film Trollbridge, amongst others.

Billy is also a presenter and voice-over artist, most recently hosting the educational film The Physics of Light for VEA and voicing the role of “Spy” for a Team Fortress parody musical video, that has to date has gained just over half a million views on Youtube! He has appeared on several TV commercials including Australian Super and Ballarat University.

In addition to his acting work, Billy is a highly experienced Kung Fu practitioner, has a basic foundation in Parkour and is an ex member of the Australian Defence Forces (Army).

Another alumni of Incognita Enterprises (and Producer), Billy has appeared in both seasons of our award-winning digital series Shakespeare Republic - as "Hamlet" in Season One and "Henry V" in Season Two. He also played the role of "Prince Hal" in our most recent short film Speaking Daggers, currently on the international film festival circuit.

ADDITIONAL TEASER CAST MEMBERS

JESSICA TO

Producer's Assistant, Casting Assistant and Production Assistant, Jess has worked on Neighbours, Date My Race, A Life Unexpected, Hunters and various short form projects in the independent screen sector. She has also been the Administrator/Manager for the Howard Fine Studio Australia and produced various independent theatre productions around Melbourne, most recently the critically acclaimed Toyer for North Of Eight.

Also an actress, Jess has undertaken training at HFAS Australia and performed in several theatre and short film productions around Melbourne.

NIKOLAS MORRIS

A current student of Journalism awaiting graduation, Nik is working in Film and Television production in a variety of roles with various companies. Also a model and presenter, Nik is pursuing a career in the entertainment business on both sides of the camera.

With an interest in culture/society, and nature/science, Nik is working towards educating himself on all aspects of the production process, from concept to completion. Nik is currently working as a freelancer in most aspects of filmmaking around Melbourne and is completing an internship with Incognita Enterprises, as well as working with various independent producers assisting on set in film and commercials.

A new television series from the makers of the internationally award-winning “Shakespeare Republic”, ‘Till The Boys Come Home is adapted from the 2004 stage play “P.S. I Love You” written by Sally McLean. Telling stories from the Australian home front of World War Two, this series celebrates the extraordinary women who fought to keep the home fires burning in a world being pulled apart by war.